bovril

Thanks for the heads up on number 3 #WhenTaken #170 (15.08.2024) I scored 886/1000 🎉 1️⃣ 📍 831.3 metres - 🗓️ 0 yrs - ⚡ 200 / 200 2️⃣ 📍 1 km - 🗓️ 11 yrs - ⚡ 182 / 200 3️⃣ 📍 7669 km - 🗓️ 5 yrs - ⚡ 104 / 200 4️⃣ 📍 100.2 metres - 🗓️ 0 yrs - ⚡ 200 / 200 5️⃣ 📍 2 km - 🗓️ 0 yrs - ⚡ 200 / 200 https://whentaken.com

My Dad is friends with someone who was on the QPR board in the 90s and early 00s. Very rich guy, big house in Surrey, horses etc. He got us hospitality tickets for the game back in 04 I think when we went 2-0 up and lost 3-2. That weekend he also put us up overnight in a luxury suite of the Carlton Tower. Very very nice. Went for a meal at the restaurant on the Saturday night. Michael Johnson was eating there! No idea what my Dad had on this guy to be honest, maybe they just got on very well. We felt a bit of out place as the hotel was full of very rich guests, Arabs, Russians etc. Anyway, Sunday morning and we're going to check out. We get in the lift and the very well spoken bellboy asks us if we've had a nice time etc, probably thinking "who let these ruffians in?". We get down to the ground floor and the door opens to the lobby, two sheiks in full gear are chatting away on a sofa, maybe closing a deal or entrapping an England manager. As we step out my Dad drops his rucksack and out rolls, literally rolls across the floor, four bottles of shampoo / shower gel that the cheap bastard has stolen from the suite. Now I often take a bottle from hotels myself but this is the Carlton ****ing Tower. They roll across the pristine lobby floor and stop near the feet of the sheiks on the sofa. Everyone looks at us, more in pity than disgust. Still cracks me up thinking about it.

If anybody is in Norfolk on holiday or just lives in the area, do come along to the Shouldham beer festival. Nice part of the world and always a great selection of beers. Community run pub too. https://kingsarmsshouldham.co.uk/beer-and-cider-tasting-notes/

I always think Brits and Americans are a lot closer culturally than we like to admit, but what do you think are the biggest differences?

I know what you mean. If it could just get dark at 9pm all the time, like flicking off a switch, that'd be great.

North section ffs. I think we're the southern most team in that section.

Daughter of William and son of Billy

Which did you like the most?

I'm actually just lulling the mods into thinking this thread is safe then when they're not looking...

Hopefully you don't get an aircon controller from OzLeicester by mistake

are you currently having an affair with an immigrant?

The expectation level makes a difference. I feel more confident in Bulgarian than Italian because Bulgarians are generally delighted for people to just speak a few phrases in their language, especially out in the sticks where nobody speaks English. Whereas in Italy they'd just take the piss out of my inability to roll my 'r's and then switch to English.

Though there are drawbacks to our language being the global lingua franca.

You get a better experience though if you learn the language. Opens you up to a greater range of views and helps you feel part of the community. Although sometimes ignorance is bliss... Same here. A perk of the job. This is definitely one of the big cultural differences I experienced. I find it quite frustrating now in the UK how indirect and cautious everyone is. Prefer the direct style.

We need an immigration thread. As someone who's lived abroad and is intending to emigrate again next year, I'd be interested in hearing people's experiences of being an immigrant in another country or living with immigrants in the UK. What interesting cultural differences have you experienced or language barriers have you faced? What do you or your acquaintances like or dislike about the experience? Would also be interesting to hear from people whose ancestors moved to or from the UK. I seem to remember Parafox mentioning his Grandfather was from Transylvania. That kind of thing interests me very much.

Batemans Mild - beautiful stuff.

Used to love that pub.

Was thrown by the reference to Chipotle Chicken in 4 #WhenTaken #169 (14.08.2024) I scored 735/1000 🎉 1️⃣ 📍 686 km - 🗓️ 20 yrs - ⚡ 134 / 200 2️⃣ 📍 1429 km - 🗓️ 0 yrs - ⚡ 161 / 200 3️⃣ 📍 9227 km - 🗓️ 1 yrs - ⚡ 102 / 200 4️⃣ 📍 658 km - 🗓️ 19 yrs - ⚡ 138 / 200 5️⃣ 📍 935.8 metres - 🗓️ 0 yrs - ⚡ 200 / 200 https://whentaken.com

Someone who is probably well-meaning but naive and often sanctimonious

Played in the World Cup! God has a plan for us all....

I liked Slimani but as others have said he wasn't the right fit. I remember him playing with Okazaki a couple of times and the partnership looking quite good. He's clearly a talented player. I think Ward could be our worst signing ever to be honest. He's like the anti-Huth in that Huth was an under the radar signing that ended up changing the course of the club for the better, and Ward was also a very quiet and seemingly sensible bit of business but one that ended up ****ing us. Disastrous player.

This sounds really obvious but being ill is crap. I was more ill over Easter than I've probably ever been. Maybe some bad Covid strain or something but I was coughing my guts up, then did my back in, and it absolutely sucked. Lost loads of weight. And it seriously affects your mental health because you can't sleep and also because your brain is linked to e.g. your gut health and all those other things I don't know much about. No two ways about it - it is shit. But it will get better. Physically you will improve and with it your mental health will improve. Keep focussing on that. Can you do small tasks? When I was feeling shit I deep cleaned my flat. It's never been as clean! It felt like a silver lining, plus a bit of very minor physical exercise helped loads. I'm not great with this kind of advice tbh and I know being without work for a long time is really difficult. As I posted above I was without work a bit and creating some structure and schedule to my day helped a lot. Things will get better. Please keep us updated as to how you're feeling and what you're up to.

Hard one today. #WhenTaken #168 (13.08.2024) I scored 751/1000 🎉 1️⃣ 📍 1308 km - 🗓️ 20 yrs - ⚡ 119 / 200 2️⃣ 📍 400 km - 🗓️ 9 yrs - ⚡ 175 / 200 3️⃣ 📍 767 km - 🗓️ 2 yrs - ⚡ 175 / 200 4️⃣ 📍 15045 km - 🗓️ 3 yrs - ⚡ 97 / 200 5️⃣ 📍 436 km - 🗓️ 2 yrs - ⚡ 185 / 200 https://whentaken.com

We just saw attempted pogroms and a few years ago half the electorate decided we could do without a few billion of GDP every year because they didn't want to hear Polish on the street. I think we're tolerant and polite about immigration. It's a very thin veneer.

Historically England always had relatively low levels of migration and was a very homogeneous country compared to most in Europe. I think that's why we're one of the most anti immigration countries in Europe, because people aren't used to it.